Image Credit- AFP
As his team-mate Zak Crawley put it, Joe Root’s
comeback from a string of low scores was “even more due than before”
after his brilliant rearguard century on the first day in Ranchi helped pull
England out of a precarious lunchtime scoreline and put them “ahead of the
game” at 302 for 7 at the end of play.
At 106 not out from 226 balls, Root achieved his 31st Test century and his
first since the first day of the Ashes at Edgbaston last summer. Although it
was his sixth century of the infamous “Bazball era,” the 219 balls he
took to get the century was the slowest of any England batsman during that time
and the third slowest of his career.
Root received a lot of criticism for his shot
selection in Rajkot, where his famous reverse-scoop against Jasprit Bumrah
proved to be the spark that ignited India’s comeback with the ball. His
celebrations upon reaching his hundred spoke volumes about his determination to
perform well in this Test, following his previous highest score of 29 in six
innings of the series to date.
On this occasion, he was back to the basics of his
game, with a determination to play in the V, and scarcely a cross-batted stroke
at any stage of his innings.
“We’re chuffed for him, to be honest,” Crawley said at the close of
play. “We never doubted Joe, we just think if he gets couple of lowies,
he’s even more due than before, so we fully expected him to go out and get runs
in this game. He deserves everything he gets, he works so hard at his game and
he always comes good.
“He’s probably the only bloke in our team who could have done that knock;
he’s that good, he’s our best player and he’s stepped up when we needed him
to,” Crawley added. “We needed him to get a score, and he got a score
like he’s done for so many years now. He’s just a phenomenal player, one of the
best – if not the best – player we’ve ever had for England.”